PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women’s basketball team not only has to replace four starters from last year, it has to get healthy.
The women’s team is dealing with a rash of injuries that have limited or knocked out a number of its players. In a season-opening two-games tournament in Pasco, the Pirates had just seven players available, one of whom played sick.
It was a rough weekend for the women, who opened the college and winter sports season with a pair of losses to Columbia Basin and Walla Walla. Walla Walla is the defending NWAC champion and Columbia Basin is a perennial powerhouse.
The women have set a high standard for the program with four straight North Region championships since the COVID-19 pandemic. The women have won an incredible 40 straight games in North Region play and have gone 93-15 over the past four seasons.
It will be a challenge with the turnover and injuries to match that level, but coach Alison Rose said she thinks the Pirates will be one of the top teams in the North by the spring.
“I think we’re going to be one of the best teams at the end. I think it might take a while,” she said.
Rose said she was excited with what she saw in Pasco. The Pirates were in both games until the fourth quarter. In fact, they were down just one possession in the final seconds to Columbia Basin.
“I didn’t think we would be [that close] because of all of our injuries,” Rose said. “I look at all of the people not at our disposal.”
The Pirates lost starters Ciera Tugade Agasiva, Alexa Mackey, Shania Moananu and Sequim’s Jelissa Julmist. They contributed a combined 44 points and 25 rebounds a game and led Peninsula to a 24-3 record.
Their best returning player is Alecsis Smith, a 6-foot-2 post player who notched a pair of double-doubles in the games in Pasco. In fact, she is an almost automatic double-double in every game. Last year, she came off the bench in 15 games, averaged just 16 minutes a game and averaged 15.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
The biggest question mark for Smith is her health.
“If she can stay healthy, she is one of the best post players in the entire NWAC,” Rose said. Rose said a lot of big players like Smith are actually kind of reserved, but said she Smith is “unapologetically aggressive.”
Another returning player is Neah Bay’s Ryana Moss, who scored in double digits in both games in Pasco, shooting 4-for-8 from 3-point range in one of the games.
“And she was sick in that game, actually,” Rose said. Moss is one of several Neah Bay state champions playing in the NWAC. In one of those games in Pasco, three former Red Devils played against each other.
“All three of them [Amber Swan and Ezrah Ray were the other two] are so amazing,” Rose said, saying it shows what a great job former Pirates player Cherish Moss is doing as the coach in Neah Bay.
Other players from last year’s squad include Carliese O’Brien and Mackena Patrick. However, these are a couple of Peninsula’s players who are injured, both dealing with ankle problems.
Rose pointed out that while all of these players came off the bench last year, they did play heavy minutes.
“They’re very experienced and very capable. And I’m really exciated about our freshmen,” she said. Veniza Jackson and Malia Garcia are other returning players who saw limited minutes last year.
A couple of those freshmen Rose said to keep an eye on Kimberlee Brown and Marley Myers. Another newcomer is Haley Ostrander, a transfer who is listed as a freshman and Aspen Fraser. Rose said Ostrander is a “phenonemal” talent and that Fraser is long and athletic.
Other freshmen include Madison Smith, Tayana Caldera and Denise Alfonso.
Peninsula next plays at Highline on Monday, then hosts Chemeketa, Lower Columbia and Tacoma Dec. 5 to 7 in the Pirate Classic Tournament. The Pirates begin defending their 40-game North Region winning streak on Jan. 7 at Shoreline.
